Manuel Chinchilla Da Silva’s Blog

Glass Recycling on the Rise Again

Glass Recycling on the Rise Again

But producing quality, furnace-ready cullet requires more effort on the public accustomed to the ease of single-stream recycling and more automated and manual sorting and equipment upgrades at recycling plants. More public outreach and education on proper recycling practices seem to keep the recycled glass on its upward swing. Multi-stream recycling, which requires people to sort and place paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass in separate collection containers, is one solution. Glass from multi-stream systems is much cleaner than glass recovered from single-stream recycling. About 40 percent of the glass from the single-stream collection is recycled into new products, while 90 percent of the glass from multi-stream systems is recovered and reused. But municipalities consider single-stream collection an improved service and are unlikely to welcome a return to multi-stream.